Thin Curl Tails On Grub Molds?

[CougDave]

I have a Del Mart hand pour mold for a 3" K grub. (Also the combo mold with the 3 and 5" grubs) The grubs look great, but I gave up pouring them shortly after I bought the molds, as the tails were too thick to give decent action. Even with super soft, the tackle shop grubs were far better than the hand poured ones. We tried cutting a few notches into the tails to make them more flexible, but it only helped a little bit.

Now, I am pouring again, and I would like to take another shot at the grubs. I am thinking that an injected mold might be able to work better than the hand pour ones did. (Thinking that the tail is so thick because it is the only way they could get it to pour) Do any of the 3" grub molds out there have thinner tails? Is there any way to modify my mold (Cutting shims to go into the tail pocket?) I would actually buy a new mold if I was sure it was going to work better. (I figure I can always sell mine off to recoup part of the cost) Also, if I do buy an injection mold, how do I make the tail a different color? (The mainstay on our lake is a 3" grub , brown with a chartreuse tail.) With Del's mold, I poured the tail before closing the mold. Are the injection molds much harder to use? I looked at a couple of injection videos, and read several threads here. It looks like I should be able to pick it up pretty quickly. I am only pouring for myself and a few fishing partners as a hobby, not for money, so I want to keep it simple enough to do in my garage after a long day of working and fishing.

Thanks in advance for the advice,

Dave

[FishAction]

Put something under the tail end of the mold to raise it up then try pouring with the plastic heated until it's really thin and runs easily. Start pouring at the uppermost point and allow the plastic to flow downward. Move downward with your pouring cup to keep plastic in the mold thin.

Just pour enough to cover the mold surface and let gravity help thin out the plastic, then place the mold on a flat surface and pour the body while the tail is still hot.

Practice with different slanted angles on the mold, different heat levels for the plastic, and how much you fill the mold with. This solved a thick tail problem for me on small curly tail grubs.

Charlie

[CougDave]

Thanks guys!

Bob, I have made firetails for my sticks by cutting away the rest of the stick and repouring them. I also see the tip molds for many other types of baits. If I get into injecting, I will probably pick up a couple of them. (Stingers, 4" curl tail worms and stingrays) I will contact Del-mart and Bears to ask about their injection molds. They have ones that look like what I am trying to make. Thanks for the advice on the narrow vs. wide tails. I have noticed that the narrow tail grubs I buy have thicker plastic, but the Kalin grubs are pretty thin. My other thought was milling a few thou. off of the surface of my mold and seeing if that helped, but I am afraid that I would ruin the mold and not be able to pour the thinner tail. (I canned that idea before I even finished thinking out the details.)

Charlie, that is a great idea. Would you use a little buildup right at the base of the tail where it attaches to the body to act as a dam and prevent the body pour from filling in the tail cavity? The neat thing about your idea is that I can do it right now, with the equipment I have. I was thinking of sticking a shim into the tail mold to take out part of the thickness, but angling the mold and making a super thin pour makes more sense. (I hadn't figured out how to get the shim off of the tail without ripping it yet.) It will be another week before I get a day off with Cathie out of the house so I can pour again, but I will jump on the grub mold again and try tipping it.

Thanks again. I appreciate the advice, and I am excited to be pouring again. (I must now start dreaming up new colors the fish around here haven't seen.)